How would you describe your style? What makes it yours?
So I think what makes it different to other people’s style is that I work with nature sort of like how a sculptor works with their material. So I’d say my style is pretty sculptural and mostly monochrome and I think the most important part is that I’m merging nature and architecture in a way that the pieces I make actually become a part of the architecture or feel like architectural pieces inside of a room.
What is something you want your students to take away from your workshops?
I think to sort of learn that you can use natural material like using other materials, to not be afraid of using it in a different way, to use it how a sculptor would use clay or like a fashion designer would use fabric. To see it as a structure and to see the colour as a whole more than just seeing the single flower. And also to see that you can go over borders with flowers and plants and natural materials, you can try out different things with them, they do not have to go into a bouquet. And these borders go into other art forms, to actually see floral design as a form of art as well.
“I’m really interested in the feeling in between, wondering what this is, a feeling of unease, feeling a little bit uncomfortable because you cannot really tell what’s going on.”
Where do you see the main value in artistic and educational spaces within floral design? How do you think they contribute to the future of the craft?
Well, I didn’t go to a floristry school you know I’m not a trained florist but I used to attend a floristry course and there are so many things that you were not allowed to do and so many things that you had to do this way or that way, this flower had to be in a triangle and all kinds of things. So I think it’s actually what we just spoke about, it’s crossing the borders, and with the workshops you do at MADRID BLOOMS, you have so many different florists, so many different styles, so you can learn so many different ways and see so many perspectives that you maybe wouldn’t have seen in a different context before.
Looking back on your career, is there a particular project or moment that felt like a turning point, something that really marked a ‘before and after’ for you?
I think there are two things, in terms of a project it was for sure the project I did with Flos in Milan in 2022 or 2023 and it was the first time that I worked abroad, and since then my international career started and so many people saw it and it kind of traveled around the world I felt. They found me through Instagram and that was what changed my career for sure. I think the second project for me was for sure my exhibition last year because it also made me see myself in a different way and it allowed me to see myself as an artist. The title was “is this even real” and I sort of played with the question of what feels real and what looks real and how can I also conserve a natural sculpture into something that can stay forever. That experimenting beforehand was great and also actually working on something that is a hundred percent me and that nobody tells you like you have to use this color or you have to use this flower or whatever, to just work on something that is just me with no borders into any sort of direction, that was great.
Do you prefer exploring your own artistic inclinations or working with a brief?
When people ask me, are you an artist as well? And I’m always like I’m both. But, I mean I think the most interesting projects are for sure the ones where people are actually pushing you, think of something else, you can do whatever you want sort of, but then of course there’s still that one person that has to sign off. Some clients or some people really want to push you and that’s always a good thing but of course there’s also other clients that want something they’ve seen before, exactly the same way, and that’s not inspiring, so then I do like working on the brief and changing the brief in a way to make it more my own. But of course I think that my own projects are always the most exciting for me. I’m working on something at the moment I hope to realize this year.
What’s inspiring you at the moment?
I am continuously inspired by nature and cities, I think that will forever be something that will inspire me because I always think there’s such a big difference in seeing a tree in a city than seeing a tree in a forest, because you can always see the outline in a city. I think that’s what made me so interested in shapes in general. It’s often like a tree that I saw in front of a house or whatever. Inspiring me right now? It can be so many different things. I’m really open-minded, into every direction, and I do get inspired by everything like nature, art, the shape of a car, it can be really anything but I think what really keeps on inspiring me the most is of course where nature in a city just does its own thing, in some sort of urban landscape. I think I’ve said this a thousand times but it’s still inspiring me, when I see a bush climbing over a wall on a highway or something where nature is sort of unseen in a way. It’s not just Berlin, Milan too for example, they have beautiful cypress trees all around the city.
Is there a recent project that stands out to you, something you’re particularly proud of?
I think it’s actually the project I just did a couple of weeks ago in Saint-Tropez, a client that I work with quite a lot and they always keep on pushing me, which I love. There are some things where I just think oh my god it’s just not manageable in the time that we have, it’s not gonna be possible and, they’re like, but you can do it! So we did this project in Saint-Tropez where we were weaving with grass and used all sorts of different techniques. We made a bench with grass and limonium, it was a lot of experimenting, testing out what’s possible with that material to still make it feel like a bench or something you would want to sit on and that was actually functional.
What role does scent have in your work?
That’s just a different level of adding to the visual side because, of course, smelling and scents, they take you back into all different kinds of feelings and memories. Everybody has a different feeling to a different smell or scent. And I think that’s sort of another level to it. Right now I’m working on an installation for an insurance company. They are doing this campaign right now about long COVID actually. Because a lot of people lost their scent due to long COVID. And I’m doing this floral installation. And we’re covering it with a fabric. So it’s sort of like the scent is being caught in the installation. Of course, there are certain flowers that have a very distinct smell, like lilies or whatever. But then again, there are so many flowers that don’t actually have a scent, not that much at least. So while I was working on that project, I thought about which flower I could work with that looks good and smells nice and strong. The thing is if you have a mix of flowers and a mix of colors, you already get the feeling of that scent. And I think because of that, a lot of people actually don’t think of adding a scent to it because the visual of a flower is already making you think of a scent.
So thinking about the main areas of your work, either events, set design, and editorials, what is an insider tip you would give someone starting out in the industry?
That’s a hard question … I think your network and the people you know is one of the most important parts to start off. I think that I got really lucky because I had a good network and becauseI started off in the city I also grew up in, which was a city where at the time I started, a lot of people were looking for what I did. I studied fashion. And also during my studies I already did styling for campaigns and so on, or just worked as an assistant for various stylists. So I think a really good start is to actually assist other people to actually get to know what you like, try out different things, not just do events. You can also assist in set design and assist in scenery design for a theatre or something like that, to try out different things and to test yourself out first before you decide in which direction to go. Because I think that really, that can really influence your style as well.
At MADRID BLOOMS, we’re really focused on promoting sustainable products and techniques. I know you don’t use floral foam, are there any other sustainable practices you incorporate in your work?
You know that I work with moss a lot, you can reuse moss so many times until it’s like turning brown, it takes a long time. So I think I always try to reuse the material that I can reuse as many times as possible. I’m always very slow on throwing away stuff. My studio sometimes is just filled up with all sorts of things because I think I might use it again at some point. And then I travel a lot for work. My most sustainable way of traveling right now is to travel with a van instead of flying everywhere. I’ve done that quite a lot in the past months, sometimes it is just very convenient because I had a project for example in Munich, then I had a project in Lago di Garda, and afterwards I had a project in Cannes. So it just sort of made sense to do all of this in a row. The structures I use, I always reuse. I work with these sort of steel structures. I actually had them made. I always have them with me for all my projects.
When people see your work, what do you want them to feel?
I think very differently from other floral installations, I’m really interested in the feeling in between, wondering what this is, a feeling of unease, feeling a little bit uncomfortable because you cannot really tell what’s going on. What am I looking at? So I think that feeling in between, exploring that. Because I feel like, especially for my exhibition last year, of course, there were a lot of people coming by and a lot of different reactions. A lot of reactions were like, oh, I want to hug that sculpture. And the other one was like, oh, but this sculpture makes me feel really uncomfortable. So I think it’s always like playing with that contrast in between a softness and then again this feeling of feeling uncomfortable.
